Asians face dilemma in biodiversity talks

Asians face dilemma in biodiversity talks

JAKARTA (JP): Asian delegates attending a regional meeting on biodiversity here yesterday stumbled over "biosafety protocols" on their way to producing an agreement limited in scope and ability.

There were also differences of opinion between developed and developing members, said Aca Sugandhy, the chairman of the Asian meeting, which discussed preparations for the Second Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity scheduled to start today.

"The results of the meeting are soft," Aca said yesterday.

Yesterday's regional meeting, which was attended by representatives of 18 Asian countries, was looking for a common stance on the international talks on biodiversity.

However, Aca said the delegates agreed to be "careful" on the issue of internationally binding procedures related to genetic engineering.

Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said Saturday that a consensus on the need for such procedures, called "biosafety protocols," is the most important outcome expected from the conference.

Aca, an assistant to Sarwono, said yesterday: "We have to be careful about the elements and the time-frame of biosafety protocols."

"Not much more could be said, as Asian representatives were faced with the dilemma of a lack of skills and know-how in their countries," he said.

The issue has been controversial since the signing of the Convention at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Opponents have included the United States as well as Japan and Australia, both of whom attended yesterday's meeting.

Caution regarding biosafety protocols is driven by a fear of having to pay fees to the rightful owners of natural resources.

"We may have to pay for using eucalyptus in our paper mills, for instance," Aca said.

At the same time, developing countries seek to gain royalties or compensation from private corporations in advanced countries for using their raw materials in biotechnology research.

In yesterday's meeting Japan expressed strong reservations to a unified stand on biosafety protocols while China and India were "strangely quiet," Aca told The Jakarta Post.

"Also surprising," he said, "was the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand in the Asian meeting by the International Conference Secretariat.

He also said 50 Asian countries were expected at yesterday's meeting. However, a number of countries, including Malaysia, were absent due to the late planning of the secretariat and its notifications, which went out just last month.

He pointed out that despite certain absences, it is the Latin Americans that are still a step ahead.

In their meeting in Buenos Aires last month, they declared that biosafety protocols should not be used as a pretext for hindering access to and the transfer of biotechnology to developing countries.

Meanwhile the two-day Global Biodiversity Forum ended here yesterday with a planned declaration. Four sessions were held covering marine and forest biodiversity, access to genetic resources and decentralization.

One organizers said biosafety protocols was too much of a taboo subject at the forum and that better results were expected at the international meeting.

"We didn't want to provoke opponents of the issue," the source added.

Another related meeting, BioForum '95, will also begin today. It is being sponsored by the Indonesian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Coalition for the Second Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity.

The meeting, which will last until Thursday, will be attended by NGOs from around the world, including 40 local NGOs.

The coalition yesterday protested the process of the Global Biodiversity Forum, which, it said, had excluded them. The organizers have denied the charges.

The NGOs also expressed concern with the conference agenda, which they said is dominated by advanced countries.

"The agenda hardly accommodates the realities in the countries of the South," their statement said.

Konphalindo, a local NGO, will host talks on what it called "patents on life" this afternoon. Vandana Shiva, a noted physicist from India, will speak at the talks. (anr)